The U.S. Senate is broken and it needs to be fixed. Back room deals, secret holds, and filibuster rules allow Senators to put their individual careers before the national interest of the American people. With the way the Senate works today, there is no accountability. Senators don't even get to debate legislation, let alone vote on them one way or the other.

Whereas Senators once resorted to filibustering only in rare and exceptional instances of intense opposition, obstruction is now standard operating procedure. Today, majority rule in the Senate is the exception, not the rule. common sense reforms will end routine and reflexive obstruction and will ensure that the Senate will once again be able to address the critical issues facing our country. Many issues, including labor law reform, financial industry regulation, unemployment and job creation measures, are all too frequently blocked or impeded by the silent purely procedural filibuster.

But the rules can be changed by a majority vote at the start of a new Congress. And that's our opportunity to repair what's broken.